Osaka International Airport

Osaka International Airport (大阪国際空港) (IATA airport code: ITM, ICAO airport code: RJOO) is the primary domestic airport for the Kansai region of Japan, including the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is classified as a first class airport.

The airport is often called Itami Airport (伊丹空港) because most of its land is located in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture. However, the terminal complex is located in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, and the only access from the Itami side is via a long tunnel that passes below the runway and apron.

Despite its "international" designation, the airport's scheduled air traffic is entirely domestic. Kansai International Airport took over Osaka's international traffic in 1994 and competes with Itami for domestic traffic. Itami will also face competition from Kobe Airport when that airport is completed.

Osaka Airport is accessible by the Osaka Monorail, as well as by regular bus service from most transportation hubs in the Kansai region.

History

• 1939: Osaka Airport opens.
• 1945: U.S. occupation forces take over Osaka Airport, renaming it Itami Air Base.
• 1954: Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio stop in Itami during their honeymoon.
• 1956: The base is used in the filming of the movie Sayonara.
• 1960: Civil flights resume.
• August 12, 1985: Japan Airlines Flight 123, bound for Itami Airport, loses control and crashes into a mountain after takeoff from Tokyo International Airport, Ota, Tokyo; it is the worst single-aircraft disaster in history, with over 500 dead.
• 1994: Kansai International Airport opens; international services are transferred from Itami to Kansai.
• 2000: JAL, ANA, and JAS launch coordinated "shuttle service" to Tokyo International Airport.

Airlines and destinations

• All Nippon Airways (Fukuoka, Iwami, Kagoshima, Kochi, Kumamoto, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Niigata, Oita, Okinawa, Saga, Sapporo Chitose, Sendai, Tokyo Haneda, Tokyo Narita)
• Fairinc (Fukushima, Matsuyama, Oita, Sendai, Tokyo Narita)
• J-Air (Fukushima, Hanamaki, Sapporo Chitose, Yamagata)
• JAL Express (Kumamoto, Matsuyama, Oita, Sendai)
• Japan Air Commuter (Izumo, Matsumoto, Matsuyama)
• Japan Airlines (Akita, Amami-Oshima, Aomori, Asahikawa, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Hakodate, Hanamaki, Kagoshima, Memanbetsu, Misawa, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Niigata, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo Haneda, Tokyo Narita)
• Japan Transocean Air (Ishigaki)

External links

• http://www.osaka-airport.co.jp/ (in Japanese only)